National - by Ned Resnikoff on Friday, October 2, 2009 12:00 - 6 Comments - 324 views
If you’re wondering why Obama Ed wood download.com/national/2009/09/21/paterson-to-run-for-reelection-despite-discouragement-from-white-house/”>put pressure on Governor Paterson to step down, wonder no more. It looks like there’s a fair shot that Rudy Giuliani will run against him in 2010–such a good chance that Paterson had to address the matter directly.
“If he thinks he could have done better, he should tell us,” Mr. Paterson said, adding, “He’s not bringing any new ideas.”
“I think I can beat Mayor Giuliani,” he added.
Uh, respectfully, governor? No, you can’t. Not when recent polls show you hovering around 20 percent. Giuliani may be certifiable, and he may be responsible for one of the most incompetent presidential primary campaigns this side of Dennis Kucinich, but even he can do better than that.
And that’s something that should keep you up at night. Giuliani’s casual contempt for the democratic process and civil liberties once prompted Josh Marshall to write:
My point of comparison would be Benito Mussolini. You’ve got the extreme hostility to civil liberites and the foreign policy adventurism. But I’m not thinking so much of the harder and sinister side of the fascist dictator as his more comic and melodramatic traits. The strutting peacock on the balcony, the histrionic gesture, the rich personal vanity. I propose to term my insight ‘combofascism’.
Basically, if Paterson decides to run again and lose to Giuliani, that will make his last act as governor–his legacy in fact–the act of screwing us very, very hard.
Photo by Flickr user Random Factor used under a Creative Commons license.
6 Comments
E. Vaughan
Julianna M.
…except Andrew Cuomo will run and it won’t even be a contest?
Alice G
AMEN. I’m so tired of NYU kids from outside NYC complaining about Giuliani. Giuliani’s the reason your parents let you come here in the first place.
Out of curiosity, did any of you click on the “casual contempt” link? Crime rate aside, nobody who attempts something like that should wield executive power in a democracy.
Henry Chan
Okay, so Giuliani brought NYC’s crime rate down. I’m pretty sure there’s more to running a state than keeping crime in check.
Out of curiosity, did any of you click on the “casual contempt” link? Crime rate aside, nobody who attempts something like that should wield executive power in a democracy.
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A few questions for the writer of this article: How long have you been living in NYC? I grew up in Brooklyn, in a neighborhood where you didn’t walk alone after dark or even feel comfortable shopping in the corner deli in. The changes that occurred over Giuliani’s two administrations were palpable. Crime went down to record lows, neighborhoods improved, and, subsequently, people who otherwise wouldn’t live here started moving into the city in record numbers (perhaps, including you). The most salient example is Times Square: It was a breeding ground for crime. Now, it’s like Disney Land. An annoying Disney Land, sure, but one that generates huge revenues for the city via tourism and is a boom for local businesses in the area.
Say what you want, but know that you’re not speaking on behalf of this native New Yorker and those like her who remember what the “old” New York was like.